Terry’s Terror

‘I have to get out of here!’

Running past the trees and bushes, he sprinted through the forest as the sweat on his forehead drenched his reddening face. Guided only by moonlight, he had no idea where he was going, but if he didn’t keep moving then there was no telling what would happen.

‘Keep moving!’ he told himself, placing one foot in front of the other no matter how much they ached.

Looking back behind him, he could spot the sea of eyes that were chasing him. They glowed in the night brighter than the stars themselves, and with each passing second another one would appear out of the darkness.

He had to get out of here. HE HAD TO GE-

---

“AAGGGHHH!”

Flailing his arms and legs, Terry sat up in a cold sweat, his heart was racing with him breathing heavily as he began to take in his surroundings.

It was daytime.

The sun was up, and the cracks in the blinds of his windows were letting its rays run across him on the recliner.

He was in the living room.

Why was he here?

Seeing the remote on the stand next to his chair, he flipped on the TV to check the news as well as find out what day it was.

“-nd remember to tune in later as we continue our weeklong MONSTER MOVIE MARATHON! Tonight’s theme is, TERRORS FROM THE DEEP!”

That’s what it was…

He was up late watching the marathon again. Must’ve fallen asleep during one of the shows.

Breathing a sigh of relief, Terry held his hand against his chest as his heart began to calm down from all the excitement.

“I gotta lay off the late-night movies and junk food. That dream was way too real…”

“Look who’s finally up.” A serene voice announced.

Turning around from his chair, he looked behind him towards the kitchen to locate the source of the familiar voice.

Standing behind the island counter, wearing a yellow apron over her grey pajamas was his fiancé Stephanie, scooping out eggs from a frying pan onto a plate on the counter.

“Are you alright? You were moving around quite a bit in your sleep there this morning. I thought you were cold so I threw a blanket over you. Seems like it didn’t do much considering where it is now.” She asked whilst turning around to face the stove once again.

A blanket?

Terry looked around his recliner to see the supposed blanket lying in a pile on the floor beside him.

Letting out a sigh, he got up from his chair, picking up the blanket and placing it on his seat before walking towards the kitchen. He passed by the plate of eggs and bacon, trying his best not to grab a piece as much as the smells tempted him to do so.

Terry approached his fiancé, pressing himself softly against her back and wrapping his arms around her waist in a warm embrace. He kissed her cheek and whispered her a good morning to which she responded with a light kiss of her own.

“Let’s see what we have here… Sausage? Eggs, bacon, and sausage breakfast. You know how to spoil a man.”

“And pancakes.” She responded while raising a finger with her free hand.

“Pancakes too? Oof, fattening me up I see. I’ll never leave that chair if you do that.” He chuckled. “You want me to start making the mix?”

“What for? It’s already on the table.”

“Is it?”

He craned his neck to look over his shoulder back onto the island counter to see a stack of pancakes beside the eggs and bacon.

“I must’ve missed those. The bacon was too distracting.”

“You’re probably still tired. Why don’t you make your coffee while I finish up here? And pour me a cup too if you could.”

He smiled, kissing her cheek once more with a small squeeze in his hug as if though to say ‘Of course’.

---

Terry slipped his into his jacket as he headed to the door, rubbing his stomach after having eaten more than he should have.

“So we only need an onion, some garlic, and a few carrots, right?”

“That’s it. Are you sure you want to walk though?”

“Yeah I’m sure. I’m only going to the Garden that’s a few blocks over. Need to walk off breakfast.”

“Hmm… alright then.”

“See you soon.”

Terry opened the door and stepped outside.

He was hit by a wave of lavender in the air, as was usual whenever he left his home. His small town was one that depended on this plant as its major export, and as such grew as much as they could of it. Even if it wasn’t going to be sold, you could never quite escape the smell since it seemed like everyone either had a few in their yards or were lighting a scented candle of it. Although he didn’t care much for the smell, it always seemed to put his mind at ease, like coming home to his mother’s cooking would after coming home from school when he was a child would.

Walking past his car that was still wet from last night’s rain towards the sidewalk he began his walk through this quiet town he now called home.

It had been over two years since he moved here… had it been two years? Maybe it was three? He couldn’t remember for sure. In all honesty, it was all a blur ever since the accident. Driving down the highway one night, he swerved off the road and hit a tree. When he came to, he was in the clinic from this town being taken care of. They told him he was lucky to be alive, not because the crash was particularly bad, but mostly because he wasn’t wearing a seatbelt and he hit his head pretty hard. His car wasn’t even totaled, just banged up from the whole mess. They guessed a deer must’ve jumped in his way and spooked him off the road.

Terry rubbed his forehead. Thinking back to this always gave him a headache. But it was also when he met Stephanie, so it was hard not to.

She was one of the nurses working there, and she was assigned to take care of his recovery.

Who would’ve guessed that it would eventually lead to this?

Passing the Jacobson’s household, his train of thought was interrupted by the over enthusiastic barking of Scout, their Australian Shephard. This family reminded him of the stereotypical American family you’d see in those vintage posters. Working father, stay at home mother, single son, and a dog living in a small town with a house that had a white picket fence to boot. They were friendly folk, it was just always hard to shake off the feeling that they fit the bill a little too closely.

Scout came running up to fence, jumping and barking in excitement at him. If he were any bigger, he’d probably jump the fence and follow him to the store.

The dog stood up on its hind legs, putting its head above the fence and barking a few more times at Terry while his tail wagged as fast as it could. Terry couldn’t help but smile as he reached over and gave the dog a pat on his head.

The rest of the family must’ve gone to church or something, usually you could see at least one of them outside if they were home.

Giving Scout one last scratch behind the ears, he continued his way towards the small grocery store.

Crossing the street onto the next block, he arrived to the little shop known as Garden’s Grocers.

It was a tiny, family-owned shop, and again it seemed liked something that came out of vintage poster. The rolling carts left outside by the entrance, filled with tangerines, oranges, and apples, enticing any walker-by to get one. The clear windows behind them with a price painted onto them declaring how much each would cost, with a sign above it stating ‘FRESH’ and another beside it saying ‘QUALITY’. These signs hadn’t been changed in years, but in a way, it gave off a simpler charm. Despite there being a larger chain store just a few minutes away, this place seemed be doing just fine. Even if their prices were a tad bit higher.

“If it isn’t Terror Terry! How are you?” greeted the aged store owner as he walked in.

“Haha, I’m doing alright old timer.”

“Now don’t go saying that. I’m only 60 after all.” The snow-haired man replied.

The suspender-wearing elder known as George, or Georgie when his wife was around, was a spritely man for his age, winkled like a prune but always had a smile and moving around. He was always claiming it was good for his figure. He also had a tendency to give nicknames to the regulars that came into the store, and after hearing about Terry’s fondness of monster movies coined him as Terror Terry.

“I guess 60 is the new 40 nowadays.”

“Haha! That’s more like it. Now then, what do you need?”

“Just getting a few things we’ll be needing for dinner later. A few carrots and some garlic… oh! And an onion.”

“Okay then, you know where they are. If you need any help just let me know.”

Terry nodded, going to grab one of the plastic store baskets by the only counter in the store just as the owner made his way behind said counter.

Unlike most grocery stores with their vast variety and aisles, one could easily make it to the other side of this store in about a dozen or two steps. It was one of the perks of these old places, although it lacked the convenience of a ‘one-stop shopping’ experience, you could get almost everything you needed (ingredient wise) in just a few minutes and be on your way.

He grabbed a small bundle of carrots, a single garlic bulb, but had to stop when looking for the onion.

Which one did he need?

Red? White? Yellow? Maybe it was sweet. It definitely wasn’t green but knowing that didn’t really help all that much. Ugghh… this happened every single time.

Letting out a sigh of defeat, Terry grabbed one of each, putting them into his basket and making his way to the counter. But just before arriving to it though, he took a quick glance through the glass door fridge that stood just a few steps away. Opening the door and letting out the cold air stored inside, he reached into it to take out a glass bottle of his favorite soda.

Sure, the plastic bottle variety was 15 cents cheaper and directly beside it, but damn does it feel nice to drink out of a glass bottle.

Placing his basket onto the table, Terry reached his over to the wall by the counter with his drink towards a lone bottle opener. Prying the metal cap off and letting it fall into a bucket below with a ding, he brought it up to his lips to take his first sip, finishing it with a satisfying sigh.

“Nothing quite beats the glass.” George said after hearing Terry as he began to punch in the buttons of the cash register.

The owner paused for a second as he came upon the four onions and smiled, holding back a chuckle.

“You forget which one you needed?”

Terry simply shrugged. This wasn’t the first time this had happened.

“Terry Terror Terry,” George said while shaking his head, “what is little Stephy going to do with you?”

“Probably nurse me back to health after smacking the back of my head for being so forgetful.”

“Pffhaha! Now that, I can see.”

Ringing up the total onto the register, George starting putting everything into a paper bag whilst Terry dug into his pocket for his wallet.

“I tossed in some cheese Johnny brought in this morning. Let me know what you think about it.”

This was the other reason Terry liked going to this store, Georgie and his wife were always giving him new things to try. Mostly anything with dairy in it, since the two were incredibly lactose intolerant. A sip of milk would have George running to the bathroom in matter of minutes.

“What’s it called?”

“Bell Pie-eazy? I don’t know, it sounded Italian when Johnny said it.”

“How is Johnny by the way?”

“Ah he’s doing alright, you know with his wife expecting a little girl soon he’s been fidgeting like crazy and checking up on her practically every other hour.”

“That’s good to hear.”

Johnny was George’s son, and the delivery driver for the store. Well, more of an errand boy. He was always going around and getting the freshest fruits and veggies for the shop along with anything else he thought was needed. Terry never met him, but he always heard about him and something he brought in that Terry would end up trying.

“Well, I’ll let you know next time I come in.”

“That’d be great. Tell Stephy me and Martha said hi.”

“Will do.”

With that, Terry took another sip from his soda and headed out the door back home.

---

Tears were rolling down his cheek.

He tried his best to wipe them off, but it only made him cry even more.

“Dammit Steph.”

He covered his eyes with his arm as he held the knife down against the table.

“Why’d you have to do this to me?”

“That’s what you get for not remembering which onion we needed.”

On the table beside the knife was a cutting board with two thirds of the sweet onion he had bought earlier that day freshly minced. The remainder was mostly sliced, but it seemed like the onion was too much for him and had made him a crying mess.

“Aww, how’s my big baby holding up? Need me to hold your hand to help you through these ‘tough’ times?” she smirked.

“Oh shut up, not all of us can just ignore a freshly cut onion. The tragedy behind its upbringing, its fate decided before it had even sprouted, being torn away from its family only to be sold like a common item for someone’s enjoyment. And yet still, despite it all, he fights back! Even in death, he fights against his oppressors! How could you remain so cold hearted to such a story? Have you no soul for our onion hero?!”

“Truly a story of the ages, able to rival the works of Shakespeare himself.”

She peered over his shoulder to see his progress, smiling to see that it was right amount.

“That’s good, you can step away from the sob story of the onion hero sweetie.” She told him as she took the knife from his hand along with the cutting board.

She proceeded to slide the sliced onions into the pan on the stove while dropping the rest into a pan that was already filled with cut up potatoes, carrots, and diced garlic.

As his Stephy was placing the pan into the preheated oven, Terry couldn’t help but pout while looking over at the bowl that held the other three onions. His eyes were still running like an open faucet and knowing that he’d be in charge of cutting all of them when they get around to using them left a sour taste in his mouth whenever he looked at them.

“Why do you look so cranky? Did the story of the onion hero not end like you wanted it to?” Steph joked.

“I should really start writing everything down when I go shopping.”

“Pffft, you’d forget to write the list.”

Terry chuckled between the sniffles, wiping his tears once more and blinking several times as he stepped out from the kitchen towards the living room. His eyes were still watery, but every second he was away from those damn onions he could feel himself getting better.

Arriving at his chair, he grabbed the tv remote and pressed the power button, causing the television set to light up and brighten the dimly lit living room.

“Stay tuned for ‘The Leviathan’, starting soon!” announced the device before the image appeared onscreen.

“Leviathan? I wonder which one they’re going with.” Terry questioned aloud.

“Depends. Which one actually starts with ‘The’?”

“I think that’s the one from the 80s. Back when the best effects were still being used.”

“This again?”

“What? I’m just saying that practical effects were where it was at. It made the movie feel real.”

Steph rolled her eyes, knowing that she’d never hear the end of it if she even mentioned a movie that had decent 3D effects in it. Instead, she turned to face the stove to stir the onions that she had placed into the pan earlier.

Terry chuckled at her reaction, knowing she wouldn’t entertain him with this dispute. He turned towards the tv to turn down the volume when he noticed a sound that was coming from somewhere else.

Looking off to the side at the window he could see that it was pouring outside, he could barely see the trees swaying in the gusts of wind as they were pelted by the rain.

“Jeez, what’s with the sudden weather change? I didn’t even notice it.”

“It’s been raining for the last few minutes.”

“Has it? Man, I need to start paying attention.”

“I think it started right when you were cutting the onions. My little crybaby must’ve not noticed with all that water in his wittle wet eyes.” She smirked.

Terry playfully pouted at her remark.

“Well this ‘wittle’ ba-“

A flash of light shine in through the window and within a few seconds was followed by a thunderous crack.

Both he and Steph shook in place, instantly turning their gaze to the outside as if though to catch a glimpse of the source, but it was already gone.

“Holy crap. How close was that?!”

Steph shook her head and bit her lip.

Oh no.

Terry ran up to her and quickly wrapped her in his arms, doing his best to calm her before she become a trembling mess.

“It’s okay. I’m here.”

Steph took in a deep breath, her shakes subsiding as she too held onto Terry.

The rainy season was always tough on her, being an astrophobe and all.

They stood together like that for a few moments until she broke the silence.

“It’s alright… I’ll- I’ll be okay. Just stay near me.”

“I’ll be right he-“

The room filled with light, and then…

*BA-BOOM*

Everything had gone dark…

---

“Ugghh… what happened?”

Terry’s head was aching, and his body felt like it had been tackled by a football player.

His eyes adjusted to the darkness in the room, taking in the little moonlight that slipped past the clouds and through the glass windows.

Where the hell was he?

It looked like his kitchen… but it wasn’t. Everything looked… old? Abandoned? It wasn’t right. The floor tiles were cracked, the paint on the walls were chipped, countertop was filled with holes and warped with age.

This wasn’t his home… but it was. What the hell happened?

Wait…

“Steph? Stephy! Are you here?!”

Practically jumping to his feet and feeling the cold tile against his toes he called out to his fiancé once more.

“Stephy! Where are you!… Where am I?… Where the hell are my clothes?”

Looking down at himself, Terry noticed that all his clothes were missing, being replaced with a dark goop which had already mostly fallen to the ground.

“What is this stuff?”

Rather than continue to question it, he wiped it off his arms and legs, letting it fall to the floor with the rest of it that was already there. The room was filled with this jam-like goo. It was everywhere.

Something here was wrong… what it was, he couldn’t tell, but he had to find out.

He searched through the house to see if he could find Steph anywhere, only to be disappointed with even more of that odd slime… and no clothes. In fact, most of the house seemed as if it had been ransacked, almost everything was missing. The forks, knives, the clothes, food, even the bed was gone. Sure, a few pieces of furniture were still around, including the TV, but the vast majority were in such a sorry state that he’d understand why no one would take it.

Was this really his home? How could it be?

Seeing there was no one else inside, he had no choice but to go out and check the neighbors. There had to be someone else around.

Terry headed towards the door, a bit uncomfortable that he was going out in the nude but mostly just a bit cold. Opening the door, the humid air from the rain greeted him, welcoming him outside.

“…”

The town looked as bad as his house.

Walls were broken, cracked in several places, fences were misaligned or fallen over, the streets themselves were in disrepair. Even his car, which was still somehow in one piece, had several places where the paint was chipped.

He stepped out of the house, his bare feet rubbing against the rough concrete that was still wet from the rain.

This would make for a cheesy horror movie scene… but only if it was on screen and not actually happening to him.

Terry took in a deep breath…

Something else was off.

The air, it smelled of pine and rainwater… but where was the lavender?

Inhaling once more through his nose, he affirmed that he could no longer smell the aroma of the flower he had grown so accustomed to. As he began to walk out towards the sidewalk, he glanced over to the neighbor’s yards to see that the purple plants were indeed no longer around. It was nowhere to be found.

He headed towards the window of his neighbor, Mrs.Walbur, the old cat lady of the block. She had gotten over 9 cats in the years after husband passed away, and one would always pass by Terry’s yard and lounge around on top of his car. But upon peeking through the glass, he was disappointed to see that her home was in the same state as his.

Broken.

Abandoned.

A strange goop that was everywhere.

It was the same with the next house, and the next one, and the next one.

His head was throbbing, nothing was making sense. Where was he? What happened?!

He kept walking throughout the town, but it all the same. Even Garden’s Grocers was in shambles.

Terry didn’t know what to do.

The more he searched, the less he found. He could spend the rest of the night searching through the town, but he knew he wouldn’t be able to find anything… not at this rate. Maybe he could wait till morning, continue searching in the daytime, or even try to see if he could make it to the next town over…

“Where… where is the next town?”

Terry realized, he had no idea.

Not once had he ever driven out of town, not a single time since he lived here. How long had he lived here? Why hadn’t he ever left? Where the hell was he? Why did he never ask these questions before?!

His head pounded the more he tried to find the answers to these questions.

Now he knew he couldn’t stay here, he had to get out as soon as he could.

Running back home, Terry rushed towards the front door, swinging it open and reaching for his car keys that would be hanging by the wall… if they were there.

“Shit!”

Immediately looking down at the floor, his heart nearly sprang seeing that his keys were there, but they were covered in that odd goo he had been seeing everywhere. Although he would’ve preferred not to touch the stuff, he needed his keys to drive out of here.

Reaching into the jam-like substance, he pinched out his keys, pulling them out and…

Pulling them out and-!

The slime. It wasn’t letting go of his keys, acting like bubblegum by refusing to undo its grip and like rubber by pulling back just as much as he was.

With one hand against the wall along with one forceful tug, Terry managed to release his keys from the slime’s grasp.

“… what the hell was that?” he asked, looking down at the translucent jelly.

He wasn’t going to stay and find out.

As he turned around to head to his car, just out of the corner of his eyes, he could’ve sworn he saw it twitch.

“…”

Terry closed the door shut from the outside.

“I don’t like where this is going…”

Hopping over to his car, he slid his key into the lock and turned it, causing all the doors to unlock in unison.

His car still had power… that was good.

Placing his hand on the handle, he pulled onto it with his fingers until the door audibly clicked and began to swing open.

*SPLAT*

*BAM*

“NOPE!”

Just as he opened the door, a glob of slime jumped up from one of the crevices in the seat and seemed to have instinctively gone straight for Terry, only for it to crash against the glass.

Without even thinking, Terry reacted by slamming the door shut, and immediately running away while he still could.

He wasn’t going to just stand around and wait for whatever that was to find a way out of his car, that’s how you get yourself killed.

With his car no longer being an option, Terry had no choice but to run. What that slime was, he didn’t know, but what he did know now was that it was alive… and after him.

He ran down the main road, away from the town center, heading anywhere that wasn’t here. Ignoring the stones and ridges of the asphalt, Terry ran as far as he could, and then ran some more. He refused to let his body stop for anything…

Well almost anything.

Standing at the edge of town, the roads had abruptly giving Terry a view of the dark abyss between the trees that surrounded the town.

The roads led to nowhere…

Looking back towards the town, Terry swallowed the lump in his throat, returning to face pine forest before him.

Taking a deep breath, he stepped onto the grass and away from his former home.

---

How long had it been?

It felt like he had been traveling this forest for hours, and daytime seemed to be no closer than it was when he started.

*CRACK*

“Ow…”

He had stepped on a twig again.

His legs were tired, his feet were sore, and he was still hungry from never eating dinner. But he couldn’t stop, he wouldn’t. His body desperately wanted to rest, but he couldn’t risk it. Not here, not yet.

The pace he had was slowed down to a crawl, running through a place like this would more likely cause him injury rather than grant him salvation. And considering his situation, he couldn’t risk crippling himself before making it out of this place.

One foot in front of the other.

That’s all he had to do.

Keep moving forward.

*SNAP*

Another twig.

He wished the moon was just a hair brighter, maybe then he could have a better idea where he was going. But even if it was, with all the leaves covering the roof of this forest, he doubted that it would’ve really made much a difference.

Really, he would kill for a pair of boots right now.

*CLICK*

Another…

Wait.

That wasn’t him.

Turning around to face the source of the sound that came from behind him, Terry could feel his muscles clench, ready to blast off into a full sprint with energy he shouldn’t have.

Just beyond a few shrubs and outside of the moon’s light, he stared into the darkness in which a pair of eyes were staring back at him.

For a moment, they were silent.

Neither willing to break it.

Was it a squirrel? No, the eyes were too big.

Perhaps a deer? Maybe. He hadn’t seen one all night, but it wouldn’t surprise him if there was one.

Yes, that’s what it had to be!

Terry breathed a sigh of relief. Finally, something normal.

This was a good sign. If there were animals nearby, that means there was water, and most likely food too. He thanked the survival shows he had watched out of boredom one fateful Sunday morning.

“Where’d you come from little one?”

He doubted they could understand him, but it was worth a shot to see if they’d lead him anywhere out of this place.

The sound of rustling could be heard near the pair of eyes as it began to approach him.

Step by step, the leaves on the ground crunched under the weight of the being, slowly making its way out of the darkness and into the moonlight. With each step, its eyes began to glow brighter, becoming yellow just as it stepped into view. A pale white leg appeared, its hoof pressing down onto the ground and snapping another misplaced twig. Rising from its leg were streams of violet, intertwining between each other as though to make it seem like raw muscles that flared open just as it reached its elbows. The ends squirmed like tentacles with no sense or pattern, wrapping themselves around each other and slipping out of other’s grip. Rows of teeth and open maws were apparent over its back and sides, tongues tasting the air and slipping back onto the void of its own body. Its head being the most ‘normal’ part of the creature, with its unblinking blank yellow eyes staring into his soul, and its deep purple fur that began at the crown of its head and continued down over the spine all the way to its tail.

Terry stared at the doe from hell, hoping that it was just his exhaustion tricking his eyes… but it looked too real for it to be otherwise.

“…shit.”

Just as he let that word slip from his mouth, twelve other eyes opened all over the creature’s body, glowing just as brightly as the ones on its head, and staring directly at him.

“SHIT!”

Like a rubber band, his legs sprung and launched him into a full sprint away from the creature. The danger was too immediate to be concerned for any minor injury he might get.

He had to run.

NOW.

Running past the trees and bushes, he sprinted through the forest as the sweat on his forehead drenched his reddening face. Guided only by moonlight, he had no idea where he was going, but if he didn’t keep moving then there was no telling what would happen.

‘Keep moving!’ he told himself, placing one foot in front of the other no matter how much they ached.

Looking back behind him, he could spot the sea of eyes that were chasing him. The body of the hellish creature couldn’t be seen in the darkness, but it was probably better that he couldn’t see it. If he ever saw it again in his life, it would be too soon.

Jumping over the roots and pushing through the greenery, Terry flew past every obstacle in his way, only looking back through the corner of his eye for a split second to spot his chaser.

No matter how fast or far he ran, it was always there, skipping past the pines and shrubs to keep in pace with him.

‘What the hell is that thi- SHIT!’

Taking a second too long to look behind him, Terry managed to spin in the last second, narrowly dodging a tree in his path, but nearly tripping in the process. If he had crashed into that, he would’ve been a goner.

The doe on the other hand… didn’t.

Just as Terry took a few steps forward, he could here a loud splat occur just where he was a moment ago. Looking back, he could see purple goo had spread everywhere around the tree, as if though the creature had exploded on impact.

“How the…”

That thing didn’t even have bones… how did it just fall apart like that?

Not giving him enough time to answer his own questions, the slimy remains began to twitch in place, some sprouting tiny appendages and glowing eyes.

“Oh no…”

Terry had seen enough movies to know what was going on, and he wasn’t going to stick around to watch it reform itself.

Returning to his previous speed, he continued his escape as the globs all began to collect themselves in one place.

He didn’t know how long it would take, but every precious second it took was another second for him to get as far away as he could from it.

Leaping through the terrain, he slipped passed everything in his way, trees, saplings, bushes and shrubs. His feet were sore, he was certain he had a pebble lodged into the heel of his foot, but he couldn’t stop, not yet…

But he did.

He stopped.

Standing at the edge of the clearing, he stared at the ground in front of him, a familiar structure laid there… a final glimmer of hope.

Asphalt.

The blackened stone that covered the ground stretched out to the right as far as the eye could see, it’s yellow stripe reflecting off the moonlight as it split the road down the middle. Turning to see the other side, a blinding light approached him, forcing him to shield his eyes.

A semi whizzed by in a flash, its high beams cutting through the darkness as far as it was able while it shrunk in the distance.

“… NO! COME BACK!”

Terry ran onto the road, waving his arms like a madman in hopes of grabbing its attention, but it was too late.

Still, this was good. It meant there were people. He could get out of this alive!

All he had to do was continue down this road and hope someone else drove by it, then hopefully they’d take him… hopefully.

He took his first step forward… but was stopped.

Something tugged around his waist, keeping him from moving… and something was now latched onto his back.

“I caught you~” a voice whispered into his ear.

…

No…

It couldn’t be…

His skin crawled, his face became as pale as the moon… the all too familiar voice… it couldn’t be.

Turning his head to face them, his eyes nearly bulged out from his skull to see who it was.

“S-Stephy?!”

His Stephanie.

Her smile.

Her face.

Her glowing yellow eyes.

It was her, but it wasn’t.

Her skin was a light purple, her hair a deep blue, her body was slime trying to take on the appearance of clothes.

“You shouldn’t be going out on these late-night runs. It’ll ruin your sleep schedule.”

Terry scrambled to get away from her, turning around and pushing his arms against her. Although the tentacle that surrounded his waist let him turn, it would not let him go nor step any further. His hands sunk into her body, shackling him to her lest he tried to tear them off.

She looked into his panicked eyes, watching as the sweat from him forehead slid down to his chin… she couldn’t help but lick her lips.

Right as he was about to scream, she calmly but firmly placed a finger onto his lips and drew his attention.

“Shhh…”

This… didn’t work.

He tried to scream, but his lips had been glued shut along the center, just where she had placed her finger. That wasn’t enough to keep him from trying, even if it would tear his lips apart, he would do whatever it could to scream at the top of his lungs.

The shoggoth sighed at his attempts, looking down at him and spraying a fume from the tip of her finger on his lips up into his nose.

The smell of lavender overwhelmed Terry, making him cough and breathe in even more. His arms that were tugging for dear life, became lifeless. His legs that were desperately trying to pull away became jelly, only being held up by the being before him. His eyes became heavier with each passing second while his mind grew blank and his voice began to die down.

‘Run-

I… have…to…

I… sleep…

Stephy…’

Closing his eyes, Terry’s head slumped back, his body limp, being held by the purple creature who simply smiled down to him.

Steph picked him up, letting him rest against her body as she patted his head and turned towards the forest.

“Shh… lets go home sweetie…” she said, as she disappeared into the darkness between the trees to head back into town.

END

Afterword

To anyone reading this. Thank you for making it to the end. This is my first attempt at trying to make a story creepy, and it’s really not all that scary or unnerving. Really, it feels a bit like a Goosebumps book. Either way, I hope you enjoyed the story and, if you haven’t already, encourage you to try out my other stories if you did. If you didn’t enjoy it, feel free to yell or type as aggressively as you can about it.

Until next time,
Coyo

 

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